Solidarity and Strategic Investments: the price of Europe’s future

Met dank overgenomen van Europees Economisch en Sociaal Comité (EESC) i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 1 april 2015.

"The economic crisis has torn us apart: if solidarity and socio-economic cohesion are not high on the agenda, the danger for Europe is now to dislocate", said Georges Dassis, President of the EESC Workers’ Group in its opening speech at the Workers’ extraordinary meeting in Riga on 1 April. “We have welcomed the Commission President’s strategic investment plan, but I believe Europe can do more. If enough money was raised to save banks, enough investments can be found to create sustainable jobs and to support our economies.”

Joining the call for more cohesion in the EU, Latvia’s Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma i stressed that "it is of utmost importance to listen and work hand in hand with social partners. The strategic investment plan for Europe is a good step forward but we will need even more investments into research, innovation and into social cohesion to bring Europe back on the path of growth. We need to implement this plan together." The perspective of the Latvian trade unions, presented by Pēteris Krīgers, President of the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS), the situation does look alarming for the country where social security system is failing and medical workers do not even earn the minimum wage. “I fear that all the money of the investment plan will go to large multinational companies, as I see no guarantee that it will benefit workers in the end”, noted Mr Krīgers. “When I see that the future projects will be chosen by experts and not by politicians, I do ask: who will argue the case for people, who will ensure that investment goes to jobs creation and not to jobless growth?”

Screening the priorities of the Latvian presidency, EESC Members advocated to step up efforts in the fight against climate change and the energy switch, and expressed their concerns over the delays on the EU maternity leave directive, recalling the recent EESC Workers’ Group declaration supporting the rapid adoption of the proposal.

The extraordinary meeting also tackled the involvement of social partners in the EU’s economic governance. Raita Karnīte, Director of the Economic Prognosis Centre of Latvia (SIA ‘EPC’), presented two studies: they show that if social partners in general - and trade unions in particular - are mentioned in all policy documents, may it be on the Europe 2020 strategy or on the EU economic governance, they are pretty much absent when it comes to results and implementation. She also underlined the needs for trade unions to focus on the new aspects of the labour market, including SMEs, reaching out to more workers and ultimately changing perception of trade unions so they are seen as employment growth promoters.

Józef Niemiec, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), underlined that “EU’s economic governance should not put budgetary issues before jobs priorities. It’s not only with competitiveness policies that we will get out of the crisis but there needs to be solidarity transfers withing Europe.”

In conclusion, Georges Dassis stated: “there is no such a thing as competitiveness made by slashing salaries. Take the example of Greece, where people have lost a third of their salaries: it did not change the economic situation, it worsened it. Europe is a peace project, built on the ruins of war and one should remain careful to never bring war back by economical tensions. Let me conclude here in Riga by saying that as a peace project, Europe must remain strongly committed to dialogue with Russia, the only way to achieve a good neighbourhood relationship.”

Background

For more information, please contact:

Sanita Birkenfelde (LV, EN), LBAS Communication Officer,

E-mail: sanita.birkenfelde@lbas.lv, Tel: +371 29 38 30 38

Caroline Alibert-Deprez (EN, DE, FR), EESC Press Officer,

E-mail: press@eesc.europa.eu, Tel: + 32 2 546 9406 / +32 475 75 32 02